Vehicle door guards have in the past been designed to protect doors from damage due to collision with other objects. As such they have been designed in the form of moldings or protectors on the exterior or open edge of a vehicle door, where the door is most likely to come into contact with other vehicles or barriers such as guard rails. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat, Nos. 4,429,013, 4,674,233, 4,741,126 and 4,998,380 to Adell.
In addition to being susceptible to damage from other objects, vehicle doors can pose a hazard to passengers and cause injury to those entering and exiting who may come into accidental contact with protruding corners of the door. That is particularly true in the case of vehicle doors on some newer model cars, which tend to have exposed sharp corners, in some cases forming an angle of less than ninety degrees, that curve inward to make the door conform as closely as possible to the curved aerodynamic shape of the vehicle. That results in the exposed corner being tilted towards the passenger's head when he enters or exits the vehicle. While this “bubble wrap” design is perhaps advantageous from an aesthetic and aerodynamic perspective, those corners can pose a hazard to passengers entering and leaving vehicles. For vehicles such as taxicabs that regularly pick up and discharge passengers who open and close the vehicle doors in the process, the chance of injury due to accidental contact with such corners is magnified. The sharp corner of a vehicle door presents a definite hazard to individuals entering or exiting a vehicle, especially older individuals or anyone whose height or posture may result in their eye or temple aligning with the sharp corner of a vehicle door.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple “door guard” that is attachable to the corner of a door frame to protect vehicle passengers from injury from potential contact with the door corner.
It is a further object of the invention that the door guard be easily installed and that it not interfere with the vehicle or the sealing of the doors
It is a further object of the invention that the door guard be adaptable to different vehicle models.